(c) Images Courtesy of the Leon Levy Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Library. Photo, Shai Halevi. www.deadseascrolls.org.il

This scroll preserves two distinct compositions. The upper column contains fragments of Psalm 154, a text also found in Syriac biblical manuscripts and in the great Psalms Scroll from Cave 11. The lower columns hold something more unusual: a prayer for the welfare of King Jonathan and his kingdom.

Who was this King Jonathan? Most scholars identify him as Alexander Jannaeus, the Hasmonean ruler who reigned from 103 to 76 BCE. His 27-year rule was defined by constant warfare. Historical records tell of three military campaigns where Jannaeus faced certain defeat but was unexpectedly rescued. This scroll likely commemorates one of these dramatic reversals of fortune—moments when divine intervention was believed to have saved the king from disaster.

he scroll itself bears witness to ancient handling. A tab of untanned leather folds over the right edge above a tear. Remains of a leather thong, found threaded through the center of this tab, show how the scroll was once tied shut when rolled up for storage..

Detail Translation

COLUMN B

1 Praise the LORD, a Psalm [of ]
2 You loved as a father
3 you ruled over […]
4 BLANK
5 and your foes were afraid (or: will fear) […]
6 …the heaven […]
7 and to the depths of the sea […]
8 and upon those who glorify him […]
9 the humble from the hand of adversaries […]
10 Zion for his habitation, ch[ooses]

COLUMN B

1 holy city
2 for king Jonathan
3 and all the congregation of your people
4 Israel
5 who are in the four
6 winds of heaven
7 peace be (for) all
8 and upon your kingdom
9 your name be blessed
10 Zion for his habitation, ch[ooses]

[xxx] = restoration of missing text based on other versions of the same text or scholarly research

LORD = the Tetragrammaton, the four-letter name of God in the Hebrew Bible